Organising Fisa and Euradwaste 2022 conference under the French Presidency of the EU Council

Project Information

FisEurad22

Grant agreement ID: 101059359

Project closed

EC signature date 25 May 2022

Start date 1 October 2021

End date 31 March 2023

Funded under

• Euratom Research and Training Programme (EURATOM)

Total cost

€ 524 928,75

EU contribution

€ 300 000,00

Coordinated by

COMMISSARIAT A L ENERGIE ATOMIQUE ET AUX ENERGIES ALTERNATIVES
France

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FisEurad22 (Organising Fisa and Euradwaste 2022 conference under the French Presidency of the EU Council)

Reporting period: 2021-10-01 to 2023-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The FISA and EURADWASTE conferences are held every 3 to 5 years with the aim to review the outcomes of the Euratom fission research and training programmes and identify the needs for future European R&D. Whenever possible, a conference is organised for each successive work programme of the ‘Multiannual framework programme’.
While FISA conferences cover a broad range of research activities in the area of safety of nuclear reactor systems, EURADWASTE conferences focus on the field of radioactive waste management.
The aim of FISA-EURADWASTE 2022 conference is to illustrate how Europe met H2020’s expectations and is prepared to tackle Horizon Europe’s challenges by summarizing the activities of around 100 Euratom projects and highlighting the most important results of this programme, addressing all main fields of the nuclear energy research and training.
Through the large diversity of topics approached and the broad participation, FISA-EURADWASTE conference is the unique European forum open to all stakeholders to exchange views on the last developments in the nuclear research and discuss the future R&D&I needs in the perspective of the grand energy challenges ahead of the EU. It is therefore a unique and extremely important rendezvous.
The concept behind this project is to gather a large audience and to create a networking environment in which the most important results on the main pillars of the nuclear energy: nuclear safety, new reactors systems, radioactive waste disposal, education and training can be discussed within the community.

The objectives were:
- to create a platform for discussion, dialogue and networking for the nuclear research community, policymakers, nuclear industry, academia, local authorities and other stakeholders.
- to bring to the attention of the relevant stakeholders from all over Europe on the achievements in nuclear fission research and education & training.
- to foster visibility of the Euratom research and training programme and to largely disseminate information.

The FisEurad22 project was established in order to:
- define the organisation team of the conference and a comprehensive program;
- identify and reach the main stakeholders in research and energy policies: research and academia, nuclear safety authorities, industry, technology development providers, and civil society that can maximise the impact of the conference;
- be part of a continuous improvement process in relation to past conferences by effectively taking advantage of the feedback and experience of the European Commission on one hand and seizing the opportunity of new modes of communication and interactivity always in progress particularly due to the Covid-19 crisis on the other hand.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The work carried out within the FisEurad22 project was divided into four Work Packages:
- WP1: project management to ensure that the project met its objectives within budget and on schedule. The activities carried out within the WP covered the overall management of the project, g, providing the monitoring of the quality and timing of project results, as well as facilitating the link with other activities external to this project.

- WP2: Establishment of a high quality scientific content. A programme and organisation committee was set up among members of the EC, local organisation and experts to review abstracts and papers and establish the conference program. Many side events were organised. Two books of abstracts were published and the proceedings of both conferences are in preparation. Most valuable papers presented in FISA2022 and EURADWASTE’22, together with the papers awarded in the poster competitions have been published in theopen access journal EPJ-N.

- WP3: Onsite conference organisation and management. to support the project implementation and the smooth running of the conference itself through activities ensuring the management of all organisational and logistics aspects ( venue, organisation of technical tours, etc.), the on-site management and the launch and management of the registration process (online registration, management of the list of participants and preparation of badges and onsite registration)
.
- WP4: Communication and dissemination.to prepare and manage the communication, dissemination and exploitation activities before, during and after the conference such as the announcement, design of a logo preparation of a website and creation of the Euratom4U application, emailing, etc.

The event was attended by nearly 560 people The event was deliberately organised to favour on-site participation, although it was possible to follow the different sessions live in a hybrid way, using the EURATOM4U application deployed specifically for the event.The opening and closing plenary sessions underlined the importance of the topics addressed during the conferences through high-level interventions by leaders of Euratom andthe international community The importance of nuclear energy was highlighted for its role in the evolution of energy mix towards carbon neutrality, and emphasised the interest for the various players, to work in synergy with each other. In addition, the importance, to know how to attract talent, and in particular young talent was discussed.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

The organisation of both conferences was successful. With more than 500 participants, the FISA-EURADWASTE 2022 conference brought an overview with high visibility of all the work done under H2020 Euratom framework research programme. The last advancements in nuclear energy safety, radioactive waste management, advanced nuclear reactors, radioprotection, infrastructures, education and training, and international cooperation were presented. The conference also helped to promote the research and innovation efforts across Europe and the role of nuclear energy in reaching the objective of having a low-carbon energy system.

Key activities and outcomes of the Euratom programme were largely communicated during the conference and helped raise the awareness of relevant European stakeholders and of the general public on research and innovation benefits and on its contribution to European challenges and to the EU's transformation to a low-carbon energy system.
Participants from different horizons gathered over the duration of the conference which offered good opportunities for networking and interacting. In each thematic session, the discussion of ideas was encouraged to stimulate the dialogue among participants.
The different messages delivered by the stakeholders on the feedback of the achieved and ongoing projects presented during the conference allowed to list progresses, remaining gaps, and future needs and provided an important input for the new work programmes. With a wide audience and participation, bringing together in one same event the major representatives from EU institutions (Commissioner, EU Officers), Member States, R&D community, conditions were met to stimulate the discussions over future policies, targets and how to achieve them.
The organisation of the FISA-EURADWASTE 2022 conference in France contributed to increase the visibility of the French nuclear research potential and research infrastructures.